Zechariah 8 - The Fast of Tammuz 17th

Zechariah 8 — The Fast of Tammuz 17th

The Cross to the Crown Series

July 6, 2023 — Tammuz 17, 5783

Shalom, friends. My name is Chadwick Harvey. You are with Faithful Performance. I am coming to you this morning about a very important day we have entered — Tammuz 17th on the biblical calendar. This day has great significance in the Holy Bible, and Zechariah 8 speaks about it specifically in the context of the millennial Kingdom. Unfortunately, most of modern Christianity is not familiar with this day or what it means — but it is important not only for the Jewish people but for every person who loves the God of Israel, who is Yeshua the Messiah.

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THE BIBLICAL CALENDAR

We begin with the foundation. Genesis 1:14-18 establishes the biblical calendar based on the sun and the moon: let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens for signs and seasons — moedim, appointed times — and for days and years. The sun and the moon together are God's timekeepers. We are now in the month of Tammuz, the fourth month of the biblical calendar.

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THE BACKSTORY OF TAMMUZ 17TH

The story of Tammuz 17th begins at Shavuot — Pentecost — fifty days after the resurrection of Yeshua on the Feast of First Fruits. In the original account, it was at Shavuot that the Torah was given to Israel at Mount Sinai. The people had journeyed fifty days from their exodus out of Egypt, being purified and cleansed along the way, and on the fiftieth day they arrived at the foot of Sinai for the wedding between YHWH and His people. The Torah was given.

But the people could not endure the fire and the thunder and the voice of God at the mountain. They said to Moses: you go up and hear the rest of the Torah and bring it to us. So Moses ascended the mountain. Forty days after Shavuot — on the seventeenth of Tammuz — he came back down. And when he descended, he found that the children of Israel had become impatient. They had built a golden calf and were worshiping it with dancing and revelry. Moses threw down the tablets and broke them. He burned the calf, ground it to powder, and made the people drink it. Three thousand people died that day.

Moses then went back up the mountain for a second forty days of intercession and repentance. There was no assurance from the Lord during those forty days that the sin would be forgiven. Then he went up a third time for forty more days. He came back down on the Day of Atonement — Yom Kippur — and on that day the sin of the golden calf was forgiven. Shortly after, the people began building the Tabernacle.

This is why Tammuz 17th became a fast day: the breaking of the covenant at the very moment of its inauguration. The three sets of forty days — from Shavuot to Tammuz 17th, from Tammuz 17th onward through repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur — are all interlocked. The biblical calendar is not arbitrary. These dates connect across the entire Torah.

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ZECHARIAH 8 — THE PROPHETIC WORD

The prophet Zechariah speaks about Tammuz 17th and the other fast days in chapter 8, and what he says is breathtaking. Chapter 8 is a millennial Kingdom chapter — a prophecy of what Jerusalem will look like when Yeshua reigns for a thousand years:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Zion with great zeal, with great fervor. Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain. Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: behold, I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west. I will bring them back and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.

The seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase. As you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and O house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear.

Then in verses 18 through 19, the Lord comes to Tammuz 17th:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: the fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall become joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.

And then verse 23, one of the most remarkable declarations in all of prophecy:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: in those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

This is the millennial Kingdom. The fast days are going to become feasts. And when they become feasts — moedim, divine appointments — the nations of the earth will come to Jerusalem to celebrate them alongside the Jewish people. Every tongue, every language, every nation. The same prophet who pronounced the fast days also declares their ultimate redemption.

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THE FOUR FAST DAYS

Zechariah identifies four fast days that are connected to the biblical calendar:

The fast of the fourth month — Tammuz 17th. This is today.

The fast of the fifth month — the ninth of Av.

The fast of the seventh month — Tishri 3.

The fast of the tenth month — Tevet 10.

Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, in his book The Book of Our Heritage, describes the purpose of these fast days simply: they are to awaken hearts towards repentance through recalling the misdeeds of our forefathers that led to the calamities. That is the heart of it. These are not merely commemorative dates. They are calls to examine our own hearts and turn back to the Lord.

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HISTORICAL EVENTS ON TAMMUZ 17TH

The calamities that have occurred on this one day across history are staggering. In the First Temple era, the priests stopped offering the daily sacrifice due to a shortage of sheep during Nebuchadnezzar's siege. During the Roman persecution period, an idol was placed in the Holy Sanctuary of the temple. An officer called Apostomos — whose very name echoes the word apostasy — publicly burned the Torah on this day. Both acts were open blasphemy and desecration.

Titus, the Roman general who ultimately destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, breached the walls of the city on Tammuz 17th — setting in motion the destruction that was completed on the ninth of Av. In 1239, Pope Gregory IX ordered the confiscation of all manuscripts of the Talmud. In 1391, more than four thousand Jews were killed in Toledo, Spain. In 1559, the Jewish quarter of Prague was burned and looted. In 1944, the Kovno ghetto was liquidated. In 1970, the confiscation of Jewish property was ordered again.

One day. One people. History after history after history. The odds of all of these events falling on the same calendar date by coincidence are not calculable. The Lord is consistent with His calendar — even in judgment. Isaiah 46:9-10 declares it: He declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done.

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PERSONAL APPLICATION

This is not only about Israel's history. There is a personal application for every believer. The temples were destroyed because the people rebelled against the Torah, rejected the prophets who were sent to them, and refused to return to the Lord. But we are the temple now. The Spirit of God dwells within us. If He allowed the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed because of disobedience, we must soberly ask: what about our own temples?

Yeshua said: if you love Me, keep My commandments. He said this before a single word of the New Testament had been written. When He spoke those words, the Scriptures that existed were the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms. He was pointing us there. That is still the word He is pointing us to.

This is also where replacement theology collapses. Zechariah 8:23 states plainly that in the millennial Kingdom, ten men from every language of the nations will grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man and say: let us go with you. The nations come to the Jewish people — not the other way around. The Lord has not replaced Israel with the Church. The covenants He made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David are irrevocable. He will fulfill every one of them. The fast days in Zechariah are about the house of Judah — not a replacement people. And the feast days they become will be celebrated by all nations alongside Israel, just as the prophet says.

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THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH — FOR TODAY

I want to leave you with one final word for this fast day. Read Jeremiah 39. The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC — the event that began with the breaching of the walls during the season of Tammuz — culminates in that chapter. But buried in the destruction is one of the most remarkable love stories in the entire Bible. Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful ruler in the ancient world, commanded his captain of the guard to find the prophet Jeremiah and do whatever he said.

The man who was destroying Jerusalem told his officer to protect the prophet who had been warning Jerusalem to repent. Even in judgment, God protected His servant. Jeremiah stayed until the very end — not because it was safe, but because the Lord was still calling the people to return, and Jeremiah remained obedient to the call.

We need Jeremiahs today. People who do not flee from the darkness but who stand in it and call the people back to the Lord — because He is calling, and He will protect those who are loyal to Him. King David failed in many ways, but the one thing David did that most of the kings of Israel did not do was repent. He was a great repenter. And because of his repentance and his love for the Lord, God called him a man after His own heart. That is still the call.

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CLOSING

May YHWH bless you and keep you on this solemn fast day. The golden calf is burned and crushed — leave it in the past. The three weeks ahead, through the ninth of Av, carry a prophetic anointing of sorrow and remembrance. Not because our lives must be miserable, but because understanding why these days were made dark is what prepares us to understand why YHWH will make them glorious. He is going to reverse the curse on every single one of these fast days. Tammuz 17th will become a feast day. The ninth of Av will become a feast day. They will be moedim — divine appointments — in the millennial Kingdom. All flesh will come to celebrate them.

May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His everlasting shalom. Have an easy fast, my friends. My name is Chadwick Harvey. You are with Faithful Performance.